The subject matter herein relates generally to electrical relay devices.
Electrical relay devices are generally electrically operated switches used to control the presence or absence of current flowing through a circuit between electrical components, such as from a power source to one or more electrical components that receive power from the power source. Some electrical relays use an electromagnet to mechanically operate a switch. The electromagnet is configured to physically translate a movable electrical contact relative to one or more stationary relay contacts. The movable electrical contact may form or close a circuit (allowing current to flow through the circuit) when the movable relay contact engages one or more of the stationary relay contacts. Moving the movable electrical contact away from the stationary relay contact(s) breaks or opens the circuit (ceasing the flow of current through the circuit) and/or closes another circuit.
Known electrical relay devices have some disadvantages. For example, some electrical relay devices have a component stack-up height that is too large for certain applications. For example, for printed circuit board mounted applications, it may be desirable to have low profile components to provide a compact circuit board assembly. The features and components of known electrical relay devices, such as those used to retain and position the movable and fixed relay contacts, the coil and the height added by the armature attached to the moving relay contact, have a resulting component stack-up that is quite high relative to a width of the relay.
A need remains for an electrical relay device having a low profile.